Sunday, 29 March 2015

1. Teaching is my
gift! To teach others to become critical thinkers, to understand and apply
their knowledge, to share this knowledge with others and be creative is a very
satisfying job. I absolutely love mentoring their learning process. The
greatest thing of all is that I learn too.

2. I’ve also learned
that when ‘others‘ acknowledge this gift, it makes me happy. I seem to need
this re-enforcement. Knowing it myself is just not enough.

3. Sharing your
successes is not the way to go in Dutch society. What frustrates me is that it
is so hard to remain positive, when you are surrounded by naggers.I’ve learned that I only need one or two
people who are more focused on the negative than the positive, to affect my
mood.

4. There are only 24
hours in a day and work shouldn’t take up all of them. I have this compelling
need to try and finish all the tasks on my to-do list. I feel guilty when I’m
not working, as my list is very long. I’m learning to prioritize and make
choices! I’m even getting help to tackle this problem. But I have to admit that
I’m a little scared that when I have the courage to 'voice' my choices some
people might not be so happy with me. To be really truthful, I can prioritize
and I can make choices. The reason I don’t voice them is that I’m scared of the
consequences.

5. I’ve learned that
writing has a healing affect. Blogging is not dead.

6. I like discovering.
I’m a curious person. I loved discovering Zwolle with my mum.

7. Listening to Jason
Mraz in the morning is a great way to start your day, next to your first cup of
coffee

8. I’m the happiest in
my work when I care the least about what happens.

9. This quote says a
lot about who I am. ‘Identity is never simply a creation. It is always a
discovery‘ ~ Dr. David Benner (2004)

10. When the wind is
blowing hard and rain is added to the equation, I don’t like to walk. I can’t
wait for spring to really arrive so that I can get back into the rhythm of
walking.

11. I really love this
block, one of the 225 blocks in the Dear Jane Quilt.

Here are the 11 things
I’ve learned in March.

I need to add one
more! I don’t like odd numbers. 12. I’ve learned, I like to ponder and wonder
about things. I also like to share my thoughts with you. At the end of
April I will share with you what I’ve learned in April.

Sunday, 22 March 2015

There are 3 principal
means of acquiring knowledge… observation of nature, reflection, and
experimentation. Observations collects facts; reflection combines them;
experimentation verifies the result of that combination. Denis Diderot; French philosopher, art
critic and writer; 1713-1784.

I’m pretty content
with my ability to observe and act on those observations. This ability serves
me well as a researcher but also as a teacher. I’ve learned to tune in and pay
attention to new things. This has taken years of practice. And I realize I will
never stop learning. Our brains aren’t meant to see everything. We have learned
to focus on specific things and then filter out everything else. I like to
challenge myself to pay attention to new things. Expand my skillset. It is
important to realize, to expand your skillset; you need to retrain your brain
to pay attention to what’s important at that moment.

When observing you
have to realize that your memory is lousy. You really can’t rely on your
memory. So when you need to really pay attention, you need to take all sorts of
notes and keep careful track of the things that are likely to matter. So you
have to decide what you want to look for to retrain your eye. Actually you need
to sometimes be aware that you need to retrain all your senses. Your brain can
play funny tricks on you. Keeping a logbook all of a sudden seems a very handy
tool. But making a photo of film clip is just as effective to improve your
observation skills.

Challenging yourself
by training your observational skills is easy.Just take field notes. Pick a place, sit down, and write out everything
you see. This trains your brain to pay more attention and observe more.

I would love to be a
profiler. I love observing people. Trying to understand why people act as they
do is another area of interest. But first I need to understand why I do things
as I do them. I’m really better at observing others, than I am about understanding
myself. Why is that, I ask?

Reading body language
and expressions is a great pastime. I’m not so good in detecting lies. I always
look for the good and expect that the ‘others‘ have good intentions too. As you
may realize I get disappointed often. People aren’t as nice as I want to believe.

Observing is great but
it becomes useful once you learn how to pick out the patterns. Detecting those
patterns is a great intellectual endeavor. At the moment I’m trying to teach
‘others‘ to detect those patterns. The more you observe, the more you ask why.
The more you ask why, the more you learn. The critical thinking that follows is
what can help you come up with new ideas, new insights. It is amazing when you
see this happen. I make a happy dance, when I realize I’ve enabled others to
experience the wonders of observation.

HMB Endeavor (replica of Captain Cook's ship)

the British Royal Navy Vessel that Captain Cook commanded

on his first voyage of discovery of Australia & New Zealand

Combining the observed
patterns with your own experience allows you to predict what happens next. Predicting
the effect of my teaching makes me glad. A sense of joy arises.

I’m trying to slow
down and stop to pay attention a little more than usual on Sundays. Sunday is
my slow day. I try to focus on one thing. Today I’m focusing on observing. My
observations turn into new ideas by critically analyzing what I observe. It is
important to ask yourself lots of questions. This improves your deduction
skills. You will be amazed how many questions pop into my head every moment. It
is tiring sometimes. To question everything! I’m training my brain to make
connections between things and build a greater body of knowledge. Inductive
reasoning is my preferred approach. But
using top-down logic (deductive reasoning) comes just as easy to me. This
really comes in handy when you are a teacher, who teaches about research
methods.

All of a sudden I’m
pondering about abductive reasoning. Need to understand this a little more than
I do at this moment.

As a quiltmaker
observation is a very important skill. I first need to study how the technique
is done before I can do it myself. Actually, to be truthful, I just copy and
before I know it I’ve become a practitioner.

A practitioner is a person
who regularly does an activity that requires skill or practice. As a
quiltmaker, I can say making quilts by hand requires skill and practice.
Synonym for practitioner is interpreter. To understand something, you first
need to observe.

I’m learning a new technique. I’m learning to
make my first Cathedral window quilt. I’m using the pink fat quarters cut into tiny little bits of
fabric for my cathedral windows.

Sunday, 8 March 2015

I really wish I could
say, I thought up these words and made them into this sentence. It depicts how
I really feel at the moment. It is like I’m floating effortlessly with grace
through every moment at the moment. I know that these moments of happiness are
fleeting states, but this feeling is very addictive. This high needs to be feed,
as I don’t want to relapse from feeling in grace. Addiction isn’t about
substance – you aren’t addicted to the substance (happiness), you are addicted
to the alteration of mood that the substance brings (Susan Cheever). I’m in a
great mood. Mentoring and tutoring students to learn how to apply their
research knowledge and skills is my regeneration. I’m cultivating grace and
nurturing it like a garden so that I won’t relapse. What I love in those
fleeting moments of mentoring and tutoring is that I’m learning too. Those new
insights are my serendipities.

Grace for me is the
experience of awe, gratitude and being in harmony with myself. It is the harmonious
integration of my body, mind and spirit. This harmony creates a profound
feeling of happiness as well as spiritual, emotional and mental freedom. Grace
is a precious present, that I want to nurture for ever. Grace is gratitude for
all that I have now. I’ve re-found grace and will do anything not to lose it.
As soon as I feel my mood changing, I’m starting to discover how to reconnect
with grace. Isn’t that great?

Happiness is wearing
your Capri jeans because in your mind it is spring while it is only 10 ˚Celsius
outside. But the sun is shining and the skies are blue, which is all I need to
make me happy.

Feeling elated, as I’m
back blogging again.

Feeling content, as
I’m able to show some progress as a quiltmaker.

I’m going to be doing
the Mountmellick workshop at Pour l’Amour du Fil in Nantes. Sadly I won’t be
able to go to the Pendle Hill workshop that Di Ford is giving on Friday. I
would also have loved to have gotten a pre-view of her new quilt and see how this quilt is made. But I will be going home
on Friday. On the bright side, I will finally start with the Mountmellick!!! I’m
probably the last one on earth to be starting on this quilt, LOL. But this does have some advantages: I’ll be getting personal instructions from Di her self, I don't need to look at the videos when I encounter a challenging block. I can also change some aspects of this quilt and give it a personal touch. I'm thinking of choosing another border
fabric. This is a
picture of the quilt, one of the quiltmakers in the Stonefields Bee has made.

Did you know that I’m
also doing a workshop with Irene Blanck in Nantes? I’m going to be making the
Miz Kelly Flower Vase block. Sadly, no pictures to show. Will post my progress
sometime in May.

But coming Wednesday I’m
going to learn another new technique. Going to learn how to make a Cathedral Window.
Bought these lovely fabrics for this quilt. I’m going to start out by making a small quilt.
Who knows I might like doing this so much that I will continue and make a large
quilt. There is nothing like having lots of WIPs (Works in Progress).

I had a lovely day yesterday in Zutphen. We had our monthly Stonefields Bee. Yes, I'm also making the Stonefields by Susan Smith. My list of WIPs is becoming longer and longer.

The Stonefields quilt above and the blocks shown are not made by me! They are made by other quiltmakers in the Bee. We are lucky quiltmakers as it looks like we will be able to continue working on this quilt next quilt season (2015-2016).

To end this post, I'm letting you know I'm going outside to bask in the sun now (it is 12am) and read a book about learning how to teach. I need to substantiate my competencies and skills with knowledge and theory, LOL. Doing this while being able to bask in the sun makes me happy.

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Me

the slow quiltmaker

About me

I’m a quiltmaker who in her spare time, of which I never seem to have enough off, tries to find serenity while making quilts. I love everything that has to do with traditional quilting. I've been quilting since 1989, but really got into it from 2006. Aagje Admiraal from the Quiltkelder in Putten has taught me the basics of hand piecing & quilting.

This blog is about the musings from my own life, pondering on the interactions of us in general & my life's journey and trying to understand the unexpected. I love writing down my roving thoughts, but like quilting I don't allow myself this pleasure enough.

I’m starting to appreciate the simplicity of my moments. I’m a rookie at the practice of gratitude. I’m learning that being thankful in everything is more important than being thankful for something. In the practice of gratitude I've found happiness.

I hope you find something on here that makes you smile or ponder. Or both.

Inspirational

"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with others, and along those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects." Herman Melville

Quote

“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.”—Marie Curie (1867-1934), chemist, physicist, Nobel Prize winner